Decoding EEG–based Workload Levels Using Spatio–temporal Features Under Flight Environment

The detection of pilots’ mental states is important due to the potential for their abnormal mental states to result in catastrophic accidents. This study introduces the feasibility of employing deep learning techniques to classify different work-load levels, specifically normal state, low workload, and high workload. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first attempt to classify workload levels of pilots. Our approach involves the hybrid deep neural network that consists of five convolutional blocks and one long short–term memory block to extract the significant features from electroencephalography signals. Ten pilots participated in the experiment, which was conducted within the simulated flight environment. In contrast to four conventional models, our proposed model achieved a superior grand–average accuracy of 0.8613 (±0.0278), surpassing other conventional models by at least 0.0597 in classifying workload levels across all participants. Our model not only successfully classified workload levels but also provided valuable feedback to the participants. Hence, we anticipate that our study will make the significant contributions to the advancement of autonomous flight and driving leveraging artificial intelligence technology in the future.